''Haseena Parker'' is a 2017 Indian

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

crime film directed by

Apoorva Lakhia Apoorva Lakhia is an Indian film director. Early life Lakhia was born and brought up in Ahmedabad, India. He was educated at the Lawrence School, Sanawar. He dropped out of a filmmaking course in New York University to assist Mira Nair on ''T ...

and produced by Nahid Khan. The principal signing of the film began in February 2016 and the shooting started on 11 October 2016. The film is based on

Dawood Ibrahim Dawood Ibrahim (; born 26 December 1955) is an Indian mafia gangster, drug kingpin, and wanted terrorist from Dongri, Mumbai. He reportedly heads the Indian organised crime syndicate D-Company, which he founded in Mumbai in the 1970s. Ibrahim ...

's sister Haseena Parkar. The film marks Shraddha Kapoor's first title role. Kapoor's brother,

Siddhanth Kapoor Siddhanth Kapoor (born 6 July 1984) is an Indian actor and assistant director who works in Bollywood films. Son of actor Shakti Kapoor and brother of actress Shraddha Kapoor, he started his career by working as an assistant director in various ...

, portrays the role of Dawood Ibrahim, and Ankur Bhatia plays the role of Haseena's husband.

Plot

The film opens on 22 May 2007, at the Sessions Court of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. A large crowd of media and civilians has gathered outside. Five taxis carrying a

burqa A burqa or a burka, or , and ur, , it is also transliterated as burkha, bourkha, burqua or burqu' or borgha' and is pronounced natively . It is generally pronounced in the local variety of Arabic or variety of Persian, which varies. Examp ...

-clad woman each arrive at the court. Khalid, the trusted right-hand man of Haseena Parkar escorts them to the courtroom. The judge asks Haseena to come in the stand and address her identity. Subsequently, all the women lift their veils and reveal themselves. Here, the hearing begins. Haseena Parkar ( Shraddha Kapoor) lives with her close to dozen siblings in a small house in central Mumbai. She is shown to be particularly close to one of her brothers, Dawood Ibrahim (

), who as he grows up turns to crime. Haseena marries the kindhearted Ibrahim Parkar ( Ankur Bhatia) but finds herself compelled to bear the brunt of her brother's actions. As her brother turns big in the underworld scene, his enemies also increase manifold. One of the enemies eliminates Ibrahim Parkar as revenge. On the other hand, the 1993 Bombay bombings in Mumbai send shock waves everywhere. Dawood emerges as one of the key conspirators in this ghastly crime. As he escapes to

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, once again it is Haseena who falls into trouble. Haseena realises that she can no longer be a victim. She hits back and emerges as ''Aapa'' (older sister) in Mumbai's male-dominated underworld. Haseena faces 88 cases of extortion in which she is named as part of her brother's infamous

D-Company D-Company is a name coined by the Indian media for the Bombay underworld organized criminal syndicate founded and controlled by Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian mafia boss, drug dealer and wanted terrorist. In 2011, Ibrahim, along with his D-Compan ...

. She maintains her innocence and relates the story of how she was merely a nervous new bride who was forced to turn into the Godmother of

Nagpada Nagpada is a neighbourhood in South Mumbai. The place derives its name from a local Shiva temple, and abode of Naag or the snake wound around Shiva's neck. It has a community basketball court. In 2005, Nagpada was the location of the Sadaf ...

. As Keswani and Public Prosecutor Roshni Satam (Priyanka Setia) continue to argue the case, the judge emerges as sympathetic towards the life and story of Haseena Parkar.

Cast

* Shraddha Kapoor as Haseena Parkar *

*Priyanka Setia as Public Prosecutor Roshni Satam * Ankur Bhatia as Ibrahim Parkar, Haseena's husband *Feroz Ali Khan as Ghulam Memon *

Samar Jai Singh Samar Jai Singh (born 26 September 1966) is an Indian film actor and acting trainer. He graduated from Government Law College, but started in Indian film and television industry in 1992. Samar is an acting coach as one of the founders and dir ...

as Inspector Ranbir Likha *

Rajesh Tailang Rajesh Tailang is an Indian actor. He is best known to international audiences for his role in '' Siddharth'', for which he garnered a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actor at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards. as Advocate Shyam Keswani *

Daya Shankar Pandey Daya Shankar Pandey (born 19 November 1965) is an Indian film and television actor. He has acted in a number of Hindi movies like ''Lagaan'' (2001), ''Gangaajal'' (2003), ''Swades'' (2004) and ''Raajneeti'' (2010). He began his career with the ...

as Inspector Amol Salunkhe *Vikram Chadha as Samad Khan *Sunil Upadhyay as defence lawyer Saabir *Charanpreet Singh as David Pardesi *Uttam Haldar as Dawood's friend *Ashmita as Khushiyaan *Paras Priyadarshan as Danish Parkar *Muskaan Bamne as ''Burkha Girl'' Umaira in court *Sarah Anjuli in

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and ...

"Piya Aa"

Production and release

According to some reports,

and Ankur Bhatia were signed in to play the characters of

and Ibrahim Parkar respectively.

Sonakshi Sinha Sonakshi Sinha (; born 2 June 1987) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. After working as a costume designer in independent films, she made her acting with the action film ''Dabangg'' in 2010, which won her the Filmfare Award for Be ...

was first cast to play the aged Haseena Parkar and a debutante was signed in to play the young Haseena, but Sonakshi signed out of the project due to her fixed dates for her movie, '' Ittefaq'', along with

Siddharth Malhotra Sidharth Malhotra (; born 16 January 1985) is an Indian actor who works in Bollywood, Hindi films. He began his career as a fashion model, but left it to pursue an acting career. He made his acting debut with a minor role in the television ser ...

. So Shraddha Kapoor was signed in October 2016 to play both the young and old Haseena Parkar. Principal photography began at the end of 2016. The shooting began with the song "Bantai". The film went into promotions in August 2017 and was released on 22 September 2017. Initially,

was to make a biopic on Dawood Ibrahim, which was a topic that was taken already by many directors. Hence, he visited the family of Dawood's sister Haseena, and also met Haseena herself. He was fascinated with her life story and decided to make a biopic on her. Filming began in October 2016 and ended up within 10 months.

Development and filming

Filming commenced with the shoot of the song "Bantai". The official teaser of the film was launched on 14 June 2017, and the official trailer of the film was launched on 18 August 2017. The movie was initially planned to be released on 14 July 2017, clashing with

Anurag Basu Anurag Basu (born 8 May 1974) is an Indian director, screenwriter, actor and producer. He began his directing career in television, moving to feature films in 2002. Basu achieved initial success with his films tackling the themes of passion and ...

's ''

Jagga Jasoos ''Jagga Jasoos'' () is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language musical adventure comedy film written and directed by Anurag Basu, and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, Basu and Ranbir Kapoor. It stars Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, and tells the story of a teena ...

''. It was then delayed to 18 August 2017, clashing with ''

Bareilly Ki Barfi ''Bareilly Ki Barfi'' () is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari based on Nicolas Barreau's novel, ''The Ingredients of Love''. It stars Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao in lead ...

''. On 9 August, the producers of the film finalised the initial date of release as 22 September 2017, when it clashed with

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 100 films, ranging from romance to comedy genres, though u ...

and Aditi Rao Hydari starrer

Omung Kumar Omung Kumar Bhandula is an Indian film director, and production designer, known for his works in Hindi cinema. He had hosted one of the famous show Ek Minute on Zee TV 90s. He made his directorial debut with the 2014 biographical sports drama ''M ...

's '' Bhoomi'' and

Rajkumar Rao Rajkummar Rao (born Raj Kumar Yadav; 31 August 1984) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi films. He has appeared in more than 30 films since 2010, and is the recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award, three ...

's movie, '' Newton''.

Reception

As of 6 October 2017, the film had collected . It grossed a total of during its run against the budget of and was declared a "disaster".

Critical reception

Renuka Vyavahare of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave the movie 2 out of 5 stars, stating, "The crime drama fails to offer an insight into Haseena's life". Syed Firdaus Ashraf from

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

gave the movie 2.0/5 stars, stating, "Shraddha Kapoor tries hard to rescue the film. Shraddha Kapoor deglamorizes herself to get into the character and her sincerity as an actress reflects throughout the movie. It has all the ingredients to make it a blockbuster."

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by

Sachin–Jigar Sachin–Jigar is an Indian music composer duo consisting of Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya. They compose for Hindi and Gujarati language films. They have scored a number of successful soundtracks in recent times. Before working independently ...

and the lyrics were written by

Priya Saraiya Priya Saraiya (born 19 November 1984) is an Indian playback singer and lyricist in Bollywood. She is also a live stage singer for Bollywood and Gujarati Folk Songs. Education and early life Music Education Priya Saraiya also known as Pr ...

Vayu Vayu (, sa, वायु, ), also known as Vata and Pavana, is the Hindu god of the winds as well as the divine massenger of the gods. In the '' Vedic scriptures'', Vayu is an important deity and is closely associated with Indra, the king of ...

and Kirthi Shetty. The soundtrack was released on 8 September 2017 under the banner of Saregama Music. The first song of the film, "Tere Bina", sung by Arijit Singh and Priya Saraiya, was released on 29 August 2017. Audio and lyrical versions of the song were released on 7 September 2017 and 10 September 2017 respectively. The second song, "Bantai", was launched on 8 September 2017 and its lyrical version was released on 14 September 2017. The third song, "Piya Aa" was launched on 15 September 2017. Its audio and lyrical version was released on 19 September 2017 and 29 September 2017 respectively. ''Haseena Parkar''s music received mixed reviews from critics.

News18 India News18 India is an Indian Media television channel owned by Network 18. It was launched in 2005 as Channel 7 by Jagran Prakashan Limited and acquired in 2006 by Network 18 and rebranded IBN7. In 2016 it took its current name. In 2013, News ...

and Musicaloud gave the music 3 out of 5 stars, and Koimoi gave it 2 out of 5 stars. However,

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provide ...

gave the music 1.5 out of 5 stars.

References

External links

* * {{Portal bar, India, Film, Bollywood 2010s Hindi-language films 2017 films Indian biographical drama films Films shot in Mumbai Indian films based on actual events Indian crime drama films D-Company Films set in the 1980s 2017 biographical drama films 2017 crime drama films Films directed by Apoorva Lakhia